LBij^l MAINE 

.M'^ OFFICE or STATE 

•^ COMMISSIONER 

OF" 

EDUCATION 

NV'OROS. READIMCS 

A^40 

LITERATURE 
ANOXHE 

SCMOOL. 
AS IT WAS, IS 
AND SHOULD BE 




^■/,..c„),. wMu-U.- ^.y ^.y^A^ 



Words, 
Reading 
and 

LiteraHtre, 
and the School 
as it was, is 
and shoicld be. 



Fro7n the 
Educational 
Department, 
State of Maine. 



lol^^ 



\ 



•^ \ 



74' 



Copies of this document will be sent on application to 

W. W. STETSON, 

State Siipt. Public Schools. 
Augusta, Maine. 



V 



SLK21 lyo/ 
D.ofD. 



i 







READING AND LITERATURE. 



THE STUDY OF WORDS. 

Many students have vocabularies so limited tbey cannot under- 
stand or appreciate the subject matter studied. This deficiency is due 
to the fact that so little time is devoted to the study of words. 
Some teachers fail to do tlie work expected of them because their 
general and technical vocabularies are so meager they cannot com- 
prehend what they read, or the force of what they say. 

This knowledge can only be acquired by an intelligent and per- 
sistent study of words as individual items, and this work must be 
continued until the student has a knowledge of the sources from 
which the words came, an understanding of their original signifi- 
cance, the changes they have undergone and their present meanings. 
In addition to this he must know the part of each word which forms 
the root, which parts are the prefix and suffix and the extent to 
which each extends or limits the root-word. 

The teacher must also study classical English until she has a 
knowledge of the finer shadings given to words by those who use 
them as means to embody beauty, express thought, stimulate 
emotion, defend opinion, re-enforce convictions and bless life. 
This reading will enable her to discern those delicate distinctions 
which give to words in certain relations their peculiar fitness and 
force. She will see that "They are apples of gold in pictures of 
silver." 

While she must know the analyses and definitions of the words 
composing her vocabulary, yet she needs more than all this can 
give her. She needs such a comprehension of thought as a unit as 
will permit her to receive its message. This knowledge will make 
it possible for her to say with dignity and propriety what she 
knows, thinks, feels, believes, hopes, strives for. The subtle 
meanings of words, their skillful arrangement, the attractions of 
diction, the graces of style and the marvels of suggestion must ap- 
peal to her in some degree to enable her to drink with refreshing 
from Pierian springs. 



We talk much and talk learnedly about ''instruction" and "in- 
spiration" and many of those wlio talk and most of those who 
listen have little or but vague conceptions of the ideas resident in 
these terms. If "instructing" always carried the thought that 
some one is building into somebody something of value, then the 
word would contain an idea for the person who expresses it and 
would carry a message to the one to whom it is spoken. If it were 
a part of our common knowledge that when we speak of "inspiring" 
we mean that we are breathing into some one something that 
means life and blessing, then it would serve a purpose which it 
so seldom accomplishes. Teachers have ins2)ired pupils to the ex- 
tent of breathing into them that breath of life which has made it 
possible for them to become living souls, and they have been able 
to do this because of the quality of their personality and character 
of their culture. 

Some words have acquired a wealth of meaning because of the 
associations that cluster about them. The dictionary informs us 
that a "home" is "a place of abode." The same definition des- 
cribes the roof which shelters our /(^a/Ziered chickens. A "home" 
means something more than a place where people are housed. To 
some it is a small white cottage with green blinds, located at the 
western end of a small circular valley, with hills crowned with 
trees behind it, green fields in front of it and a glimpse of the out- 
side world through a notch in the mountains. It is a household 
presided over by a man and a woman whose portraits are painted 
for us by our Quaker poet in Snow Bound. It is filled with boys 
who little resemble saints and as little remind one of sweet sinners. 
It is a place where authority is respected, obedience cheerfully and 
promptl}^ rendered, simple manners cultivated ; where tenderness is 
a ministering angel, work a saving blessing, duty an opportuuit}^ 
and ambition a sane and influential reality. When this word is 
pronounced there appears on the canvas a picture clear in outline, 
beautiful in suggestion, inspiring in teaching and blessed in all its 
molding power. 

When one understands what a word origiuall}^ meant, the 
changes through which it has passed and the significance given 
to it at present, then he is able to understand what others have 
written and to use language in such a way as to indicate he is not 
a novice, stumbling in the twilight of his own ignorance. 



SOME OF THE MASTERS OF ENGLISH. 

When one reads the addresses of Lincoln, the orations of Web- 
ster, the essays of Walter Savage Landor, the plays of Shake- 
speare, he discovers they bounded the words they used before 
they were permitted- to be the servants of these princes of the 
realm. He soon learns that subtractions are losses, that addi- 
tions do not improve, that wisdom is voiced in noble phrase 
and that everything has its due proportion and perspective, 
because these masters knew instinctively, or learned through 
study, the word to use and the place in which it should be found. 
Some of these giants may have known things they did not learn, 
yet they all stand as models to be studied, examples to be fol- 
lowed and as springs of inspiration from which we may be 
filled. 

The student and the teacher would do well to take note of 
the fact that these kings in this higher kingdom were intensive 
rather than extensive readers of books. Webster read his Bible, 
Shakespeare's dramas, Caesar's Commentaries and Burke's 
speeches. Lincoln read his Bible, Buuyan's Pilgrim's Progress, 
^sop's Fables and Shakespeare. Webster was the greatest 
orator of the last century, if not the greatest of all centuries. He 
had that Doric directness which justified some one in saying he 
was a "Steam engine in breeches" and that, if he wanted a 
thunderbolt to hurl at liis adversary, he had only to reach out and 
grasp it as it went hissing by. Possibly, in his later speeches, 
he filed and pruned them to a point of weakening them, but in 
his best work his sentences are dignified, majestic, persuasive, 
powerful. His orations are classic and conclusive; they are the 
finest specimens of declamatory English extant. 

The orator of the day at Gettysburg had all the advantages 
incident to cultured ancestry, scholarship and academic associ- 
ations and yet his oration was wanting in that quality which 
would have given it life and influence. Lincoln's half score of 
simple sentences are familiar to every school boy and treasured 
in every patriotic heart. The oration of the one died an untimely 
death because it did not shed light or possess life. That of the 
other is immortal because it voices the passion of the true citizen. 

It is an obvious if not a safe conclusion to deduce fi'om these 
facts that he reads best who reads but few books, reads those 



which feed his soul and reads them until he has grown to his 
full stature. 

THE LOCAL NEWSPArFR. 

Current reading occupies a large, perhaps too large a propor 
tion of the average reader's time. The local newspaper has a 
just claim to be called an educational institution. It makes a 
i-ecord of local and current history, fosters enterprises which 
seek to promote the general welfare and renders an amount of 
unremunerated public service not equalled by any other agency. 
It has proved itself the loyal ally of the common school. For 
these and many other reasons the teacher should be a reader of 
her local paper. 

THE METROPOLITAN DAILY. 

In the selection of a metropolitan paper a teacher should be 
governed by several fundamental principles of which the follow- 
ing are the most obvious. The paper selected should contain 
intelligent discussions of important public questions. It should 
fairly represent the work of persons and the policy of parties. 
It should be fearless, but unprejudiced and consistent, in its com- 
ments on the service and character of public officers. 

Any newspaper which devotes a large proportion of its space 
to accounts of murders, divorces, scandals and prize fights and 
which seeks to make these records of vice the most attractive 
features of its issue is unworth}^ of the age and unfit to be 
found in the possession of instructors of 3'outh. 

If it invades the home, or violates the privacy of individuals, 
or seeks to cripple, crush, or injure any person or cause, because 
of personal malignity or partisan motive it should be tabooed. 

No tencher can afford to read a newspaper which gives her 
unwholesome views of life. She is as culpable when she does 
this as when she assimilates any other form of moral polution. 
The list is long and the worthy list is too extended for enumer- 
ation. 

WEEKLY AND MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 

It is necessary for the modern teacher to have a thorough 
knowledge of the world's work, accurate information as to the 



world's workers, a conceptiou of the world's progress, an under- 
standing of the tendencies of the times. In learning of these 
she will get the details of great events, the biographies of great 
leaders, the quality and chai'acter of the common people and a 
sane view of the crises of her day. "The Review of Reviews," 
and "The World's Work" cannot but be helpful in these studies 
if they are intelligently and faithfully read. 

It is also important that the teacher know the spirit of her age 
and the life which characterizes it. She must discern the hopes, 
ambitions and aspirations that mold character. She must know 
something of the well springs of action, the tendencies of the 
multitude, the quality of desire as well as the general trend and 
march of human progress in its higher aspects. What men 
believe, think, feel, hope, seek after and are trying to embody 
and live, in a word, life in all its aspects and all its possibilities 
should find in her the earnest student and the candid investigator. 
It is conceded that "The Outlook" and "The Independent" stand 
pre-eminent in this field. 

The progressive teacher will read at least one magazine which 
maintains a high literary standard. Current literature of the best 
quality will find in her an intelligent patron. It is important tliat 
she be familiar with the thought and view of the scholar and the 
literary artist concerning matters of present moment and public 
interest. Those things which have to do with the home, the 
school, the church, the office, the community, should be known to 
her through such interpretations as are given by trained students 
of these subjects and skillful writers on these matters. "The 
Atlantic Monthly" easily stands first in the class which assumes to 
discuss these subjects and "The Nation" is its peer in all the 
fields it covers. 

It goes without saying that the teacher should be in touch and 
in tune with young life. She should know and love the child. 
She should have a knowledge of his needs and information as to 
his surroundings and capacity. She should understand his hopes, 
appreciate his fears, realize his shortcomings, comprehend his 
ability and be able to walk with him in his mental, moral, physical, 
social and recreative activities. These things will come to her 
through contact, study, incident, story and eternal vigilance. 
"The Youth's Companion" or "St. Nicholas" will be a most helpful 



8 



assistant in knowing child-life and making use of his efforts. (The 
type in which one of these is printed should debar it from our 
children, but it may be read by teachers with reasonable safety.) 

SUGGESTIOXS IX ESTIMATING BOOKS. 

AYhile it is true that no one reads with profit unless he com- 
prehends the meaning and force of the words read, yet it is quite 
as true that he gets but little from his reading unless he is able to 
pull the pith from the treatise studied. The value of this pith 
determines the merit of the book and the wisdom of reading it. 

Much has been said concerning the value of reading popular 
volumes. David Harum has been praised and condemned. 
When one has finished the book and recalls what is found therein 
that is worth while, he discovers that he has left a sentence, an 
incident and a pathetic scene. The sentence contains the some- 
what startling statement that "\Ye should do unto others as the 
other fellow wants to do unto us but do it fust." The incident 
reminds us of David "swapping" horses with the old deacon and 
how he skinned this latter individual without breaking his hide. 
The pathetic scene tells us of the payment of the widow's mortgage 
and helping her to live in comfort the remainder of her days and 
it exalts the man who gave the country boy his first dime. Oue 
has to decide if a sentence of the quality given above ; if a 
commercial incident of doubtful character and the beautiful scene 
which practically closes the book are worth the time necessary for 
reading David Harum. These questions decided, a much larger 
controversy is settled. 

It is not safe to say that a book which elaborates only one idea 
is not worth reading. The incidents, characters, illustrations, 
arguments, reflections, hints, suggestions, teachings, contained in 
Dante's Inferno were wrought out for the purpose of making 
clearer the single thought that the sinner must pay the penalty of 
his sinning. No one questions that in this sentence is found a 
sufficient justification for a much larger volume than the great 
Italian has given us. 

Bulwer's Devereux was written for the purpose of making 
clear to the lovers of diplomacy the arts and artificies of the 
diplomat. Thrilling as is the story, numerous as are the inci- 
dents, exciting as is the crisis and varied as are the teachings 



yet beneath and above it all and running through it all are its 
central motive and supreme thought. 

ENGLISH LITERATURE. 

English literature" includes the work done by English and 
American authors. It is so broad in its scope and so multi- 
tudinous in its volumes that the untrained reader is at a loss 
to know where to begin or what is worth reading at all. A 
knowledge of his capacities and an understanding of his tastes, 
together with an analysis of the material available, would greatly 
simplify the matter of selection. Each one is the best judge of 
what he can do and what he enjoys doing. It is hardly worth 
while for an adult to punish himself by reading books which he 
does not enjoy and from which he gets but little information 
and no inspiration. Unless a book appeals to one, suggests 
more than it says and stimulates more than it suggests, then it 
is not the best book for any given person to read. Having 
settled the question of what will serve him best he is prepared 
to make intelligent choice of the books he will read. 

ITS NATURAL DIVISIONS. 

The following analysis of English literature may serve to 
some extent in making these decisions. The Father of English 
poetry was Geoffrey Chaucer. He was our first and greatest 
realist. He painted Englishmen as they lived and walked and 
talked in orchards and lanes, homes and farms, shops and 
cloisters, village greens and tournament scenes of old England. 
He ^as not painted for us portraits but has revealed to us the 
knight and the monk, the squire and the friar, the yeoman and 
the prioress, the merchant and the serjeant at law, the frauklain 
and the tradesman, the shipmau and the ploughman, the reeve 
and the miller and Chaucer and the host of Tabard, so that they 
stand before us with greater distinctness than would have been 
possible had we been Chaucer's fellow pilgrims. No other 
writer has ever matched Chaucer's descriptions of persons, 
places, things. When we read his pages we live in the England 
of his day and are part of its people. 

Later by some years comes England's greatest idealist, 
Edmund Spencer. He portrayed men as they are to be when the 



lO 



Good Day shall have come. The ideal man with the purit}^ and 
strength of all the virtues is before us not onl}' as a creation of 
beauty, but as a personality, wise, strong, gracious. Whatever 
of good the past has had, whatever of blessedness the future may 
bring, are here embodied and are here regnant. In his personi- 
fications of Holiness, Religion, Temperance, Chastity, Friend- 
ship, Justice and Courtesy he has given us not subtleties, but 
individuals. He has made abstract qualities live and breathe by 
giving them a visible form and a local habitation and has 
endowed them with the beauty and attractiveness of a winning 
personality. 

Shakespeare places all mankind upon the stage and then, with 
the wisdom of the philosopher, the insight of the poet and the 
effacemeut of the recluse, he stands just back of our shoulder 
and shows us the motives that move, the impulses that control, 
the passions that sway, the appetites that influence, the limita- 
tions that mar, the vices that brutalize, the virtues that enuoble, 
the graces that adorn, the comeliness that renders beautiful 
these players iu life's drama. The secrets of the heart, the 
surgings of the soul, the purpose and mission of life, the 
horrors and the release of death, all these and much more 
he reveals to us. The influence of each over the others, those 
things which are external and apparent, those things which are 
subtle and vital, he tells iu statements so simple and sentences 
so clear that the untutored may see and know of these great and 
wonderful mysteries. In his dramas, mortals drop their physical 
frames and stand revealed to us as the}' will appear when all 
that now conceals is removed. 

Milton and Buuyan permit us to walk through gates of jaspar, 
along golden streets, in Elysian fields and to kneel at the great 
white throne. We see that world never beheld by mortal eyes 
with all the distinctness and all the details with which we view 
the world in which we live and of which we are a part. Our 
physical eyes are closed on physical things, our spiritual eyes are 
open to spiritual scenes. What oe shall be and how we shall live 
when we are denizens of another world, they announce to us. 

Pope, Addison and Steele were gifted in diction, style, polish, 
all the graces of the literary arts. What they said was worth 
the saying, but the form used in its expression is more worthy 



II 



of praise than the thought voiced, or the facts recorded. Their 
writings are fragrant with those charms which appeal to the 
artistic sense and satisfy the literary longing. 

Burns and Wordsworth were so finely strung and so delicately 
attuned that they could count the pulse of Nature as it beat out 
its songs of joy. With one we go to that home on the hill at 
Mossgiel and out to that little field in which grew the daisy 
which was torn asunder by the ruthless ploughshare and as we 
study its form and inhale its fragrance we are taught the lessons 
of life, death and the judgment to come. As we stand on the 
river's brink we learn that the yellow primrose is something 
more than a colored weed to be plucked and thrown aside with- 
out thought or care. We go with it on a long Excursion and sit 
beneath the hedge, visit in the cottage, listen to the winds as they 
sing through the trees and look "unto the hills from whence 
Cometh our strength." As we read these pages all Nature has for 
us a voice and a message and we see the Creator toft^ering in 
the hills, blossoming in the valleys, floating in the clouds, coming 
to us in the waves of the ocean, falling upon us in the showers 
and blessing us in the sunshine. These embodied visions help 
us to look "through Nature, up to Nature's God." 

Longfellow, Tennyson and Whittier have voiced for us the 
emotions which soothe or stir the human heart. In "The Day is 
Done," "Crossing the Bar," and "The Chapel of the Hermits" 
we find but few ideas not expressed by others, but we arise from 
the reading of these poems with a stronger desire to be true, a 
nobler purpose to be righteous and a more fixed determination to 
walk in that path which leads to the haven of all goodness. Our 
hearts are fired, our emotions are warmed, our souls are puri- 
fied, because we have been sitting close to and have been com- 
panions of the noblest souls that ever graced and blessed this 
world of ours. 

A SUMMARY. 

The list is not long, the number is not large, but the field has 
been covered. 

If realism appeals to you and you want to know of the ph3'si- 
cal frame and its varied manifestations and see things as they 
appear to him who uses his physical eyes, then you must read 
the Canterbury Tales. 



12 



If the ideal is strong within you and if you want to learn 
somewhat of what man is to be when he stands released from all 
things which hamper and degrade ; if the nobler man is attractive 
to you, you will find the message in the Fairy Queen. 

If the human heart in all its subtlety and the human soul with 
all its m3'steriea are attractive to you aud furnish congenial sub- 
jects of study and fruitful fields for investigation, then 30U must 
take Shakespeare for your companion and teacher. 

If you are interested in the world toward which you are travel- 
ing and desire to live iu it before you make your habitation there, 
Milton aud Bunyan are your best guides and instructors. 

If you care more for adornment than for the thing adorned ; 
if that which apparels is more fascinating than the substance, 
then you must go to Pope, Addison and Steele. 

If you desire to come near to Nature and understand its moods 
and learn its lessons and be blessed by its teachings, then you 
must walk over the hills aud through the valleys with Burns aud 
Wordsworth. 

But if you believe as some do, that feeling is the highest form 
of intelligence known to the subtlest psychologist ; if 3'ou realize 
that it is more important to feel the truth than to know what is 
true ; if out of the heart are the issues of life then you must go 
your way and be blessed as you walk with Longfellow, Tennyson 
and Whittier. 

While this analysis includes some who stand first in the secoud 
class, it does not omit any who stand first in the first class. 

It will be noted that each division of literature has a definite 
field, a message of its own ; that each is represented by one or 
more writers of the first class aud that each had pioneers and 
disciples, but that none of them had fore-runners or successors 
who were their peers. 

Marlowe, Lily, Kidd aud Green explored the field, beat the 
bush and revealed the possibilities of dramatic writing, but it was 
left for Shakespeare to separate the wheat from the chaff and put 
in imperishable form more than others have dreamed or seen 
in scene or story. 

His plan was his own, his method he borrowed from no one ; 
his expression was Shakesperian, his gift to the world is unpar- 
alleled ; his imitators have been legions, his successors have not 
yet been born. 



An attempt has been made to give a bird's eye view of the 
scope and themes of English literature. Each reader must settle 
two questions before she can pursue her work with profit. First, 
what are her motives, tastes, aptitudes. Second, what will best 
serve her in developing her powers. These are personal ques- 
tions and must be settled by the individual. It is futile to 
attempt to limit an adult's intellectual diet. 

In what has been said no attempt has been made to cover three 
important fields of literary effort — history, essays and fiction. 
The first has been considered in another document and therefore 
will not be discussed at this time. A word may not be out of 
place concerning the other two. 

ESSAYS. 

Plato, in his Republic, gathered and voiced the wisdom of his 
own age, winnowed and formulated the abstract thinking of pre- 
ceding ages and anticipated the future by many hundred years. 
Whatever the wisest had thought and the sanest had said, Plato 
re-stated in classic form and suggestive sentences. Emerson 
supplemented his work and blazed the path for years to come. 
Their writings are the great reservoirs into which are gathered 
the wisest sayings, the highest thinking, the noblest aspirations, 
the best and the purest philosophy of life and living. All that 
the generations have thought is here set in form. They are the 
rare souls which, at long intervals, winnow the world's wisdom. 

In Macaulay one finds the rounded period, the balanced sen- 
tence, the splendid imagery, the magnificent swing of paragraph 
and the convincing force of the impressive climax. Erudition 
finds its noblest illustration in this greatest of English essayists. 
To him history has given up its treasures, science has laid bare 
its secrets, life has contributed its rarest lessons, philosophy has 
added its noblest contributions and genius has fused them and 
given us pages in his essays on Milton and History which reward 
days of study and nights of meditation. 

Walter Savage Landor comes the nearest being an "English 
head on Greek shoulders" of any writer known to history. He 
had the power to see, the skill to express, and that highest of 
all qualities, the art of suggesting, which marks so distinctly 
the great writers of that most wonderful of all the people Europe 



14 

has produced — the Greeks. He possesses llie fine flavor and the 
delicate touch which makes reading a delight and stud}^ an 
inspiration. It is no extravagance to say that, for classic, 
expressive English, he has but few peers and no superiors. 
One turns from his pages both stimulated and instructed. 

FICTION. 

In fiction the selection is more difficult and advice is of little 
value. If one has a liking for the hidden workings of the 
subtlest natures he will fine food for thought in the Scarlet 
Letter. If he wants portraits that are true to life and pictures 
faithful to historic scenes, together with all that makes chivalric 
days and those who lived therein familiar companions, he would 
do well to read Scott. If he wants history told through biog- 
raphy and told with that faithfulness that even the historian 
fails to equal ; if he wants to know the struggles that fill men's 
lives, the events that determine the destiny of nations, the 
intrigues that mar the worlds record, he must study Bulwer. 
If he wants to know how sin debases, evil poisons and in what 
all life finds its measure — its rewards and its punishments — he 
will go to the works of George Eliot. 

UNCLASSIFIED GEMS. 

There are certain books which do not lend themselves to classi- 
fication, but which should be included in this list because of their 
attractiveness and merit. 

In "Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush" McLaren has given us 
several portraits that will repay study. Domsie is possessed of 
those fine powers which make life beautiful and humanity 
akin. Mark Hopkins and a log and a student might constitute 
a university; Dr. Arnold might make noblemen of the sons 
of nobles; Horace Mann might make possible a common school 
system ; but it was left for old Domsie to render the school its 
greatest service. He helped the boy of the cottage to find his 
place and do his work. He knew boys and loved them and 
because of this love he always found the "lad o' pairts" and 
found a way for him to go to Edinboro and through the Uni- 
versity. For all time he will stand as the ideal common school 
teacher. 



He had the subtlety of the philosopher; the wisdom of the 
sage ; the insight, sympathy and love of a woman and, glorifying 
all, a passion to serve. A great sorrow was buried in this grave, 
a broken heart furnished the soil and sustenance for fairest 
flowers and noblest fruit. 

In this little sketch there is more of sound pedagogy than in 
many a pretentious volume. His comment on the machinery of 
the modern school is saved from being sarcastic by the pathetic 
phrase in which it is voiced. He knew what we shall all some 
day learn, — that it is unwise to devote so much time to the con- 
struction and running of the machinery of the school that we 
have neither time nor strength left for the boy for whose benefit 
I't is supposed to be installed and kept in motion. It is a little 
story that rings true and blesses life's tenderest moments. Its 
j-epeated readings would make it possible for many a teacher to 
be a means of grace to her pupils, instead of simply a paid 
instructor. 

In "His Mother's Sermon" and the "Physician of the Old 
School" the author has set before us the service of simple lives 
faithfully and tenderly lived. He helps us to see that rewards 
may come through devious channels, but they always reach him 
who does his work and leaves the issue with the Power higher 
and wiser than his. 

Picciola was written by Saintine for the purpose of helping us 
to see that titled ancestry, wealth and position may be a curse 
and that their loss may bring social and intellectual as well as 
spiritual salvation. 

A French nobleman is embittered by certain expeiiences. He 
comes to hate himself and his fellows. While in this reckless 
frame of mind he is cast into prison where he broods and longs 
for death. Life to him is a curse and he seeks to be rid of it. 
Isolation permits meditation. Through a narrow window he 
discovers a delicate flower seeking to sustain life by drawing 
nourishment from a few crumbs of soil that have been permitted 
to gather in a crack in the walk. Days multiply ; the flower 
grows ; his interest in this waif increases. Shut out from the 
world and all its attractions and possibilities ; turned in upon 
himself, he goes out to this little companion with all the love of 
a great heart and with all the devotion of a single passion. He 



lb 



becomes so absorbed in watching his fragrant friend that each 
morning he hastens to the window to see if it is still there and 
each day bi-ings new tortnres as he fears that some ruthless hand 
may destroy it. A day comes when he knows that its destruction 
would bring to him a sorrow, the keenness of which no previous 
experience has matched. But he lives to learn that the study 
and love he has given to this little messenger which is beyond 
his care, but within his vision, have brought him not only 
release from prison but the companion who is to walk by his 
side for the i-emainder of life's journey. It tore the scales 
from his eyes and drew the bitterness from his soul. It led him 
out into the clear and helped him to understand his work and to 
do it. It made it possible for him to make his life a joy to him- 
self and a blessing to others. 

The book is written in that delicate strain which permits the 
x'eader to feel he is a co-laborer with an artist who has painted 
some of the blackest as well as some of the fairest scenes in life's 
pilgrimage. Its gentle persuasion illumines the darkness, makes 
clear the pathway and gives strength to walk therein. It helps 
one to see that hard lines may produce beautiful pictures if laid 
on in patience, love and faith. 

Souvestre plays the role of the "Attic Philosopher" with a skill 
that charms while it instructs. In his little room at the top of a 
tall building in Paris he lives and dreams and looks out upon the 
world with a clear gaze and a sjmipathetic heart. From his van- 
tage ground he studies the nobleman in his castle, the millionaire 
in his mansion, the tradesman in his shop, the laborer at his 
task, the recluse in his seclusion, the beggar in his rags and the 
abandoned in his vice. In two he finds uuich of care and more 
of worry. In most he finds honest hearts and willing hands. 
He discovers not only the flowers, but the fruits of love, bloom- 
ing and ripening iia humble homes. And in all he finds some- 
thing which gives him help because from each comes either a 
message or a warning. His insight permits us to stand by the 
side of each and read his thought, appreciate his feeling and 
understand, whether we approve or condemn, his ambition. He 
lets us see that kindness glorifies the humblest life. 

Souvestre helps us to see the littleness of small things, the 
greatness of large things and the proportion and prospective of 
all things that go to make up the life of the individual. He also 



17 

shows us that happiness and usefulness do not depend upon titles, 
money or physical comfort, but they do come to him who has a 
loving heart, an appreciative soul, a mind that seeks to know and 
a desire that finds ways to lighten the burdens and multiply the 
blessings of others. 

A SUMMARY. 

A summary of what has been said would include the follow- 
ing : One must know the word before he can appreciate liter- 
ature. He must know local affairs if he is to judge of things 
that are being done in distant countries. He must be familiar 
with the life that marks his own day and the youth with whom 
he may be associated, if he is to be a man among men. He 
must know himself and understand his needs. He must learn 
that others have served themselves best by reading but few 
books ; reading the same books many times, and reading for 
ideas rather than for facts. He must make some master his 
familiar companion and learn his message. 

(A teacher who does not read magazines and books which 
treat of the history, science and art of education is unworthy 
the place she occupies but does not fill. This subject has been 
considered in previous reports and therefore is omitted from 
this discussion.) 



A rp:trospect, present conditions and 
A forp:cast. 



THE OLD TIME SCHOOL. 

The school of former days was housed in au unpretentious 
building and located amid grounds neither ample nor attractive. 
The furniture was awkward in construction and uncomfortable 
to those who had to use it. The walls and ceilings were blank 
and often black and dingy. The apparatus consisted of wood 
blackboards, chunks of chalk, incorrect maps and globes that 
served several purposes, but not the one for which they are sup- 
posed to be constructed. The grounds were denuded of natural 
attractions and disfigured with sundry abominations. The out 
buildings were of the crudest possible construction, or the 
adjoining forests or thickets served in their stead. 

The pupils ranged from four to twenty-five j^ears of age. 
They were muscular, alert, ambitious and capable of doing the 
hardest mental and physical work. They had in their veins 
the best blood of the age and came from homes where work 
was a virtue, learning was respected, scholarship was prized 
and a large majority were ambitious to master the common 
school studies and complete the course at some acadeni}'. Of 
these a considerable number were anxious to go to college and 
looked forward to careers. They had a love for labor, a 
capacity to dig, a relish for conquest and a respect for results. 

The course of study was prescribed, in part, by the teacher, but 
more largely it was determined by the fancies of the parents, or 
the caprices of the child. When a study was selected each pupil 
went his own gait in his own way, his progress being limited 
by his ability and his application. He referred from time to time 
to his teacher and under certain circumstances sought assistance 
in form of an explanation, or a suggestion. This was usually 
given in such a way as to require more work than would have 
been necessary to solve the problem unaided. It was one of 



19 



the cardinal virtues of the old time school that the child did 
his own work. In those days the student had all the joy which 
comes from the mastery of tasks assigned. It never occurred 
to him that if a "sum" were difficult, or a sentence involved, 
he could apply 1o his teacher and have all made clear. 

The teacher was a man for the winter term and a woman in 
the summer. They were both of mature years and possessed 
scholarly instincts and, to some extent, scholarly attainments. 
They were stern and sometimes harsh. They believed in their 
right to rule and they exacted instant and absolute obedience. 
They had clear ideas of what the child should study and still 
clearer conceptions of what he could and should do for hiuiself. 
They were rulers, directors, managers, and, in a sense, instruct- 
ors. While they counselled and stimulated, yet they were not 
companions or associates. They were examplars and models 
in dress, carriage, deportment, habits and accomplishments. 
They did good because goodness was one of their enduring 
characteristics. 

THE SCHOOL OF TO-DAV. 

Many of the school houses of the present time are constructed 
of suitable material and according to acceptable plans. A few 
of them have artistic decorations and attractive furnishings 
and in many of them modern furnirure is found. Maps, charts, 
globes, slate blackboards, pictures, statuary and much other 
material adorn the rooms and are at the service of the teacher. 
In such schools the grounds are ample in size and graded into 
lawns and beautiful with trees, shrubs and flowers and provided 
with walks and drives. The outbuildings are properly con- 
structed and concealed from public gaze. 

The pupils range from five to sixteen years of age. They 
come from homes where stated tasks are not required and where 
work is not utilized, as it formerly was, as an educational agency. 
Obedience is not as prompt as it was when their parents were 
children. They depend more largely upon each other and their 
teacher than in former times. Too many of them do not take 
kindly to work and trying situations. The course of study 
includes a long array of subjects and still longer list of topics. 
Text- book work is commenced too early and in the earlier years 



20 



is too difficult. The time spent on arithmetic and geography is 
out of all proportion to the demands made by these branches 
and is vastly in excess of the value of the results obtained. 

A fraction of the teaching force has had academic and pro- 
fessional training and a larger fraction possesses fair scholar- 
ship and unusual aptness for teaching. The smallest fraction 
is grossly deficient in all these particulars. Less than a majority 
of the teachers are too young in years to be placed in charge of 
school children. 

The most of the failures made by oar teachers are due to 
lack of talent for the work, inadequate scholarship, no pro- 
fessional training, a dislike for the service and a feeling that 
teaching is a temporary makeshift. Added to these is the 
teacher's greatest sin — an attempt to do for the child those 
things which can only be of service when the child does them for 
himself. In addition to these deficiencies and mistakes too much 
time is given by the children to studying and attempting to learn 
isolated details and too little time to discovering, defining, illus- 
trating and mastering principles. They get a smattering of 
many things but do not master the printed page, compre- 
hend the principles and processes of arithmetic, apply the defi- 
nitions and rules of grammar, or understand the great underlying 
facts which determine the location of populations and the found 
iug of industries. 

THE SCHOOL OF THE FUTrRE. 

The school of the future will have a school yard of at least 
three acres in area. "Within its limits the parents of the com- 
munity, the teacher and the pupils will plant forest trees, large 
and small fruit trees, vegetables and flowering plants. They 
will prepare and keep in condition the lawns, provide play- 
grounds, supply works of art and books of merit and furnish 
apparatus for teacher and pupils. Two small buildings will 
also be provided by the local community. In one of these 
will be found tools and lumber and the boys will have an oppor- 
tunity to manufacture simple implements and utensils for the 
school and home. In the other the girls will be taught to cook 
and sew. The planting and caring for the trees and vegetables 
and the using of what is produced in these school gardens will 
enforce many useful lessons. 



21 



The home, as well as the school, will be responsible for 
developing an interest in, and respect for work. The children 
will render cheerful obedience because of respect for themselves 
and regard for properly constituted authority. Parents and 
teachers will assign .tasks within the capacity of the children to 
perform and such as will be helpful in training their powers at 
the time of their greatest natural activity. The children will 
resent as an insult any attempt by others to do the work given 
them to do. 

Previous to their eighth birthday they will live in their homes 
or will be cared for in a modernized kindergarten. In this 
school they will be allowed to grow physically, and incidentally 
and perhaps accidentally, they will receive some intellectual 
training. The first and greatest purpose to be served during 
this period will be to become strong, eager for activities, resolute 
in doing things and ambitious to become worthy. Late in this 
part of their course they will study Nature and be taught to read, 
spell, write and use numbers as far as they may be illustrated 
by objects. 

For the next two years the work will be limited to learning 
facts, committing to memory definitions and rules and acquiring 
a mastery of elementary principles. They will begin to pull the 
pith from the subject matter read, learn somewhat in detail the 
processes used in arithmetic, become familiar with the physical 
features of the school yard, town and county and, in a general 
way, of the State and Nation. They will learn those things 
which are the basis of the i^nglish language and in many ways 
will train the memory to be the servant of the reason. 

During the concluding years of their common school course 
they must become masters of the printed page, have a clear 
understanding of all principles involved in arithmetic, know 
geography so well that they will understand why grain is grown 
in the upper Mississippi valley, why New England is noted for 
manufactures and why cotton is king south of Mason and 
Dixon's line. They must understand why one sentence is cor- 
rect and another faulty and be able to apply the rules and 
definitions which grammarians have formulated. 

During their common school course they will also learn some- 
thing about the men who have made their locality what it is and 
the Nation what it has become. They will acquire this through 



2.2 



tradition, story, anecdote, biograph}', formal history. They will 
discover the point at which we started, the path we have fol- 
lowed, the highway in which we are traveling and they will 
have glimpses of the goal toward which we are jonrneying. 
History will no longer be a confused mass of dates, nameg 
places. 

And best of all, in that good day that is coming, they will 
have a chance to come close to some of the great souls who have 
lived and served the world by giving to it in poem and picture 
their message of beauty and instruction. To all these items will 
be added such instruction in Nature as will enable the children 
to see the beauty of the flower, enjoy its fragrance and under- 
stand the lesson it teaches, as well as to know the seed from 
which it grew, the root which gives it nurture, the stem which 
holds it in place, the branches which add to its beauty and the 
leaves and flowers and fruit which adorn and render it useful. 

While they are learning to read and spell and cipher they will 
learn something of their ancesters who hewed their dwelling- 
place out of a wilderness and gave it its present relative position. 
They will know something of the details of the town organization, 
its officers, their duties and the industries which give employ- 
ment to the people. They will be less gaudily apparelled and 
will be less devoted to exciting and demoralizing entertainments. 
They will indulge in more of that kind of plaj' which is natural 
to childhood and wnll give freer rein to the fancy and imagina- 
tion natural to the child. They will gradually come to see that 
it is more important that they be, tlian that they have and more 
necessary that they be able to use, than that they add to their 
possessions. Their school days will have been profitably spent 
if, at their close, they shall have learned that selfishness brings a 
curse, and self sacrificing service multiplies all blessings. 

THE TEACHER, 

The teacher of the future will have great natural aptness for 
teaching. Added to this will be thorough and accurate scholar- 
ship, professional training and experience under the direction of 
a trained inspector. 

When she goes to her work she will become a part of the 
community in which she lives and will take root where she finds 



23 



her home and will be willing to assist in some of the enterprises 
which have for their purpose the promoting of the general 
welfare. 

She will know facts so well that she will be practically un- 
conscious of her knowledge. She will be able to comprehend 
thought when a master gives it expression. She will have that 
quickness and sanity of feeling which will respond to every 
worthy appeal to her emotions. She will know the ancestry 
of her pupils, the methods which are best suited in giving 
instruction and she will have clear ideas of the result she may 
secure in each case. She will have a proper estimate of the 
relative value of facts and principles. She will not confuse or 
allow her pupils to be confused by the multiplication of details. 
While she will be able to instruct, she will also be fitted to inspire 
and she will see that it is quite as important that she should 
stimulate wisely as that she should direct properly. She will 
never be wheedled into doing the work for the child and she 
will have that firmness which will insist that he perform his own 
task. She will be skillful in interesting the people of the com- 
munity in the school and will so direct their efforts that their 
help will improve it. It will be her supreme desire to make the 
school the social, literary and art center of the comm.unity. 

To do this her heart, as well as her head, must be in her service 
and the school will be, to her, a temple. She will have the 
devotion of the disciple to the end that she may broaden and 
purify the children under her care and benefit the community of 
which she may be the most influential member. 

THE pp:ople. 

No school can do its best work unless it is the pride of the 
people who support it. It will hold the first place when it is 
the most prominent interest of those among whom it is located 
and has the intelligent and hearty support of all its patrons. 
When these conditions exist then all will gladly join in enlarging 
and rendering useful the grounds in which the school house is 
located. Then they will paint its exterior, tint or paper its walls, 
provide the rooms with works of art and books of value and 
supply the apparatus necessary to the best administration of the 
school. Before their work is done maps, charts, dictionaries. 



24 

globes, statuary, engravings and numberless other articles will 
make attractive the room in which they are placed, aud render 
more effective the work done by the teacher aud children. They 
will also defend, support and magnify the school because it has 
their personal interests in charge. 

THE TOAVX. 

About two-thirds of the funds appropriated for tlie mainte- 
nance of the public schools is provided by the towns, cities aud 
plantations of the Commonwealth. The local muuicipality must 
raise and expend at least eighty cents per capita for the support 
of the common schools to be entitled to State aid. In addition 
to this amount appropriations must be made for school grounds, 
school buildings, repairs, text-books, apparatus, insurance and 
o-eneral supplies. These expenditures place an unequal, and in 
manv cases, au excessive burden upon certain rural towns. 

SCHOOL OFFICIALS. 

Any one familiar with our town meetings knows that in many 
cases the election of school officials is left for the last item of 
business. Many of these officers are interested in having good 
schools aud are qualified to discharge the duties devolving upon 
them. In some instances persons are elected who have no con- 
cern for the schools and in a few cases persons have been selected 
who are so grossly incompetent that to print the facts would 
shock the sensibilities of the entire State. 

No one can question the supreme importance of electing men 
for members of tlic committee who have liad business experience, 
who are of unquestioned integrity, who have a knowledge of 
what the schools are, ideas as to what they should be and a con- 
trolling desire to make the best possible use of the funds placed 
at their disposal. 

The superintendent should be elected by the committee so that 
he may be in sympath}" and harmony with the board and be 
willino' to carry out its directions. Antagonism between the 
committee aud superintendent means the minimizing of the 
services of both and thus the schools are crippled aud the school 
fund is worse than wasted. 

The superintendent should have a definite knowledge of the 
studies in which instruction is to be given, be familiar with 



^0 



methods and devices to be used in giving instruction and be a 
competent judge of his teaching force. He should be able to 
commend intelligently, criticize tactfully and stimulate both 
teachers and pupils. It is his province to suggest such changes 
and ask for the adoption of such methods as will enable the 
teacher to do the best work of which she is capable and help 
the children to get the greatest benefit possible from their studies. 

It is not too much to say that superintendents should be 
educational experts. This means that they should be scholars, 
have professional training, including experience in the school- 
room, and be capable of administering a system of schools in 
such a way as to ensure adequate returns to the communities 
they serve. 

The town would do well to place as the first items of business 
at its annual meeting the election of school officials and the 
appropriating of funds for the maintenance of schools. Such 
a course would indicate that it has such pride in its schools as 
will influence it to give them special prominence and dignity. It 
is as true of a town as of an individual that it can do much in 
the direction in which its sympathies and interests are most 
active. 

STATE SCHOOL AID. 

The State, at the present time, contributes about one-third the 
entire amount expended in maintaining the public schools. This 
amount should be increased until at least one-half this sum comes 
from this source. The city tax-payer has as great a financial 
interest in the education of the country school boy as has the 
boy's next door neighbor. The country boy often finds his later 
home in the city. His money value in his new home is deter- 
mined by his education. The city makes its largest sales to those 
living in the countr}' possessing the best education. In either 
case the city is financially interested in the education of all the 
children of the State and this warrants the placing a larger pro- 
portion of the burden of supporting the schools upon the State. 

SOME STATISTICS. 

A few figures may help to make this matter clear. In the 
illiterate nations of Asia the average daily pay for each man, 
woman and child is three cents ; in Russia it is fourteen cents a 



26 



day ; in the United States it is forty-eight cents a day ; in Massa- 
chusetts it is eighty-seven cents a day. The Asiatic nations 
spend nothing for public education. Massachusetts spends a 
larger sum per capita for education than any other community 
of equal property valuation. 

The illiterate man earns §150 more than is necessary to supply 
his physical wants each year between his twenty-fifth and fifty- 
fifth birthdays. The man who has a common school education 
has $300 to his credit each year for the same period. The one 
having a high school education is able to save SGOO a year, while 
a college trained man sees on the right side of the ledger $1200 
a year. 

These figures bring home with tremendous force the claim 
recently made by an expert that the detaining of a boy at home 
for a single day costs the boy, in the end, 810. Put in another 
form, the statement would be that each da}^ a boy spends in school 
is worth 810 to him. No one can read these statements and not 
be impressed with the money value of education. If a man 
is worth 8450 a j-ear more to the State by having a high school 
education tlian the illiterate, then the State necessarily has a 
large financial interest in his better training. 

The average pay of a workingman, each year, in the State 
of Delaware, is 8200. The average pay of such men in Massa- 
chusetts is $535. These two numbers bear substantially the 
same relation to each other as do the amounts expended by each 
State for public schools. While it is true that figures do not 
lie and that figurers may, yet it must be clear to an3^one that 
there can be no question but that it pays, and pays in dollars 
and cents, to give our boys and girls the best school advantages 
the State can provide. 

We are appalled when we discover that eighty per cent of 
the children who attend the public schools stay in them only 
five years ; that sixteen per cent remain for eight years and that 
four per cent are in the schools eleven years, or two yeais more 
than enough to complete a common school course. 

All these considerations make apparent a few simple propo- 
sitions. The State should furnish a larger proportion of the 
funds needed to maintain the common schools; it should insist 
that those who have the superintendence of the schools be fitted 



27 



for the duties devolving upon them ; it should demand that the 
teachers have a natural aptitude for teaching and an academic 
and professional training which will fit them to be instructors 
of youth. It shall also encourage the enlargement of school 
grounds, the beautifying of schoolrooms and stimulate the pro- 
viding of such material as will best fit the school to do its best 
work. 

The State will do its duty when it shall make it possible for 
every child within its limits to attend, free of expense, a kinder- 
garten, a common school and a high school, taught by capable 
teachers and administered by competent officials and fostered and 
sustained by the dignity and influence of the commonwealth. 



L BRARY OF CONGRESS 



019 747 872 A 




